Rise of the Warrior Cop (Non-Fiction) 1Star DNF@63%

 

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Title: Rise of the Warrior Cop
Series: (Non-Fiction)
Author: Radley Balko
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars DNF@63%
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 459 / 290
Words: 176K / 111K
Publish: 2021 (updated)

When the author apologized for his whiteness and his editor’s whiteness in the “updated” introduction, I knew this was going to be a rough read. When the author made it clear that he wanted to legalize marijuana on a national scale and claimed that there were no harmful side effects to using it, the ride got rougher. When the author used personal attacks against one political party for doing something, then softballed the other political party when they did the exact same thing, it became Defcon 6. Finally, the ride went straight off a 1,000 foot waterfall when he claimed that ecstasy was harmless and that doctors who “over-prescribed” opioids were victims of a federal government witch hunt.

With all of that, I simply cannot trust ANYTHING he writes about in the book. You and I, as readers, don’t get to pick and choose what we want from an author when he makes it obvious he isn’t telling the truth. He’s either lying his little political ass off, or he isn’t.

Balko made it plain that he is a druggee and lying sack of politically filled bullshit. Which is just too bad because I was looking forward to reading on this subject.

What makes it even worse, personally, is that this is my THIRD dnf in the last two weeks. I have got to start picking out my books better than this. My monthly average rating is going to tank at this rate :-(

★☆☆☆☆

From the Publisher

The last days of colonialism taught America’s revolutionaries that soldiers in the streets bring conflict and tyranny. As a result, our country has generally worked to keep the military out of law enforcement. But according to investigative reporter Radley Balko, over the last several decades, America’s cops have increasingly come to resemble ground troops. The consequences have been dire: the home is no longer a place of sanctuary, the Fourth Amendment has been gutted, and police today have been conditioned to see the citizens they serve as an other—an enemy.

Today’s armored-up policemen are a far cry from the constables of early America. The unrest of the 1960s brought about the invention of the SWAT unit—which in turn led to the debut of military tactics in the ranks of police officers. Nixon’s War on Drugs, Reagan’s War on Poverty, Clinton’s COPS program, the post–9/11 security state under Bush and Obama: by degrees, each of these innovations expanded and empowered police forces, always at the expense of civil liberties. And these are just four among a slew of reckless programs.

In Rise of the Warrior Cop, Balko shows how politicians’ ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier. His fascinating, frightening narrative shows how over a generation, a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society.